Gable top containers are used for packaging food items such as milk, juice, syrup and candy. These types of containers are prepared from paperboard and are configured so that the top of the container forms a pair of gables on either end. The sides and bottom of the container are usually rectangular in shape. Portions of the container forming the gable are arranged so that a user can pull a section of the container apart and press onto a pair of wing portions to form a spout from which contents inside of the container may be poured or otherwise removed. Gable top containers of the type described are commonly used in schools for the packaging of milk.
A gable top container is manufactured by providing a paperboard blank of a suitable shape with a plurality of score lines thereon. The blank is bent along the score lines into a non-planar shape. The inner and outer surfaces of the paperboard making up a gable top container are provided with a thermoplastic coating such as polyethylene. Heat and pressure may be used in order to create a side seam of the gable top container. Additionally, heat and pressure can be employed to close the bottom and likewise the top of the gable top container once it is filled with a desired substance.
A user generally uses his or her thumbs to tear apart the ends of a pair of fins located above a V-shaped section of the gable top container. This action causes a pair of wings to be formed which are in turn pushed towards one another by the user in order to form a spout from which contents of the container may be removed. The remaining section of the fins continues to be adhered together so that roughly half of the end of the gable top container is opened and the other half is closed. Although such an arrangement is suitable for pouring contents from the gable top container, this arrangement may not be desirable for one to access the contents of the container with a utensil such as a spoon or fork. For example, if soup were contained in the gable top container a user may have difficulty in maneuvering a spoon through the single spout and removing soup therefrom due to the size and orientation of the spout.
If a user desires to completely open the gable top container he or she must open the closed half by again tearing apart the pair of fins of the closed half and pushing the subsequently formed wings together. As gable top containers are designed for only one opening, the process of opening the other half of the end may be difficult and can result in tearing of the paperboard of the container. It is therefore the case that current gable top containers are not configured to facilitate opening of the entire top of the gable top container in an easy manner. As such, there remains room for variation and improvement within the art.